adolescent
Americanadjective
-
growing to manhood or womanhood; youthful.
-
having the characteristics of adolescence or of an adolescent.
noun
adjective
-
of or relating to adolescence
-
informal behaving in an immature way; puerile
noun
Other Word Forms
- adolescently adverb
- postadolescent adjective
- subadolescent adjective
Etymology
Origin of adolescent
First recorded in 1475–85; from Latin adolēscent- (stem of adolēscēns “growing up,” present participle of adolēscere ), equivalent to adol(ē)- ( adult ) + -ēsc- verb suffix + -ent- adjective suffix; -esce, -ent
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A humiliating incident in a pool surrounded by her repulsed classmates echoes an iconic scene from “Carrie,” with Ducournau crafting an analogy for traumatic adolescent rites of passage like menstruation.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 26, 2026
"There is a tendency for anxious parents to become caught up in a prevailing media panic and see all adolescent brains as simply hardwired for social media addiction," he says.
From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026
"Cumulative trauma, cumulative adverse experiences and ongoing instability and unpredictability certainly put these children at higher risk... of developing psychiatric disorders and negative mental health outcomes," Evelyne Baroud, a child and adolescent psychiatrist told AFP.
From Barron's • Mar. 20, 2026
When the label was unsure what to do with the hyperactive adolescent then known as “Little Stevie Wonder.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 19, 2026
He was one of those guys who has just come through a bout of adolescent acne into a scarred, masculine, bad-boy face.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
